The Edge of Wild Space
by MBosco
Summary: Shortly after the death of Emperor Vitiate and the draw-down of the second Great Galactic War, Republic Intelligence picked up a transmission from an Imperial Station on the edge of the lesser know part of the galaxy warning all to stay away. The four heroes of the Great Galactic War were summoned together to lead an investigation of why the Empire simply abandoned the station.
1. Chapter 1

JedI Weapons Master Tarson Draay sat in a darker corner of the small cantina on Carrack Station in the midst of the Republic's great fleet. In front of him was an empty plate and a freshly refilled glass of Tarisian Ale, the third that had been bought for him by some smuggler or soldier who had recognized him and his former apprentice, Kira Carson who was now a JedI Knight. They spoke softly about the war when a voice interrupted. "Hail the Hero of Tython and Savior of the Republic, JedI Master Tarson Draay!"

Looking up, the human male JedI Master saw an old friend, JedI Master Jaina Doneeta, a Twi'lek and the Bar'senthor of the JedI Order. Tarson and Kira stood with grins on their faces and stepped out from behind the table to embrace their old friend and bow respectfully to her tall Trandoshan companion Qyzen-Fess, a famous hunter, who bowed in turn and greeted them with great respect. "What have you been up to, Master Doneeta? I heard rumors that you aided I after that Rakghoul outbreak on Alderaan. Was it truly as bad as the holonet made it out to be?"

Asked Kira. Jaina straightened her ornate JedI robes and replied, "It was both worse and not as horrible. It took some weeks to drive them into a network of caverns and to seal all but a few of the entrances. From their we used vaccines where we could and our weapons where we unfortunately could not. It's all over now, thankfully. How about you, my friends? We haven't seen one another since the battle on and above Ilum against Darth Malgus and his forces. Do you still have that HK droid that we had to fight?"

Tarson leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over the plates of his JedI battle armor, saying, "Yup. We fixed him up using parts from a shipment of HK-51's found on Belsavis. Since then we have been trying to unravel the mystery of the Dread Masters. It was quite a fight too, taking us all the way out to Oricon in Sith Space. I'll tell you all about it but now it seems that there is trouble coming our way."

Hearing this, Jaina turned and saw four individuals striding towards them, chatting amiably. One was a female Iridonian Zabrak of small stature named Deena Sworrez and around her were three men in full battle armor. Two of them, a Human and a Cathar, wore the blue striped armor and gear of the Republic Special Forces while the other, another Human male, wore well made Balmorran Arms armor. Seeing the JedI and Qyzen, the male soldier, Colonel Derek Antilles, grinned and said, "Well look who we have hear, gentlemen and lady: our most noble JedI friends."

And he embraced each of them in massive bear hugs that none of them except Tarson, being nearly as tall as Derek, could return. They all greeted one another for they had all served together against Darth Malgus but none of them had seen one another since then having been sent on other very important missions. After the salutations they put two tables together and began to chat about what they had been up to. The two JedI Masters told of their missions again and then listened eagerly to the mission that Derek and Havoc Squad had been on. "Major Jorgan and I have been busy fighting Mandalorian pirates and raiders throughout the Outer Rim. Even though the war with the Sith Empire seems to have ground to a halt for the time being, the Mandos seem intent on carrying on fighting. It has been quite the task too. What about you, Voidhound? What have you been doing?"

Captain Sworrez downed a shot of liquor before replying. "Before receiving a transmission from Generals Var Suthra and Garza and, of course, JedI Master Satele Shan, my crew and I were blockade running through the Imperials over Telos IV, delivering supplies to groups of civilians just trying to live through the harsh rule of the Empire. It was fairly simple. Those Imperial Destroyers and their gunners aren't getting any more accurate or powerful."

They continued chatting until three individuals strode up to their table and greeted them. One was a Mon Calamari, General Var Suthra. The other two were human females, one of which was Grand Master of the JedI Order Satele Shan and the other was General Garza. "Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for meeting us so quickly. There is a new development that we think our best should look into." said Master Shan.

General Garza said, "The Science Division of the Republic Strategic Intelligence Service have received word that an entire Imperial space station located on the edge of Wild Space has gone completely offline within the period of only twelve standard hours. The only news of it is apparently a signal quarantine warning. If this is something that the Empire thinks is worth abandoning and warning people away then it may be something we can use to permanently push back the Empire and keep them back. We would like you to go with them and protect them and their research teams."

All were silent for several moments until the JedI Weaponsmaster said quietly, "If whatever happened has been abandoned by the Empire and its Sith Lords then it is something that is beyond dangerous. Master Satele, do you truly think that studying it and trying to control it is wise?"

The Grand Master looked doubtful and shook her head. "What I think does not matter. Supreme Chancellor Saresh refuses to listen to the JedI Council on this issue and has decided to make it a military matter. She did invite us to help in the matter, thinking correctly that we would want to go in case it is a situation where the JedI would be needed to handle it."

General Garza nodded and said, "We are confident that, with your help and the help of the Science Division of the SIS, the Republic Military will find and harness weapon powerful enough to ensure peace. Once the Empire realizes what we have gained they will be begging to make a peace treaty that will last a thousand years - a coexistence that has ever been heard of."

Tarson was leaning back in his chair with his fingers steepled in front of his face while the three were speaking. As soon as Garza finished her little speech, he leaned forward and chuckled. "So you want a super weapon, a deterrent as it were. They never work. It becomes a cold war where the possessor fights for all it's worth to try to keep the weapon while the opponent seeks to take and possess the weapon. Instead of open, army to army and fleet to fleet warfare we have a shadow war with assassins and intelligence groups. Fewer people will die but corruption will fester and grow even more quickly than ever."

Silence followed for several minutes as the Generals and the Grand Master looked at the saviors and heroes of the Republic. Finally all eight of them stood and looked at each other before very reluctantly consenting to go on the mission. The Generals relaxed visibly and even smiled slightly while Grand Master Satele nodded her head but looked no happier than she had before. With much thanks and promises of awards and payment and the Republic's most heartfelt gratitude, they left the heroes sitting in the Carrack Station Cantina. For several minutes they all sat brooding silently until Colonel Antilles finally slapped the table top and said, "Right, listen here. We need to make an agreement right now before any of this truly begins. If this is to dangerous, we blow that stations straight to Hell, agreed?"

The other three looked at each other and they all shook on it after which they finished their drinks and walked to the lifts to their private hanger. Before they entered, Tarson grinned at Jaina and said, "How is that old ship I got for you after Dromund Kaas treating you?"

Jaina replied, "The Ebon Hawk is an excellent ship, especially after I had it upgraded and refitted. You said you found it in a chamber of the Dark Temple on Kaas, right? Well I think I may have found out who it belonged to before it was taken by the Emperor. A pair of holocrons in secret compartments say that it belonged to JedI Master Meetra Surik and the JedI turned Sith and redeemed JedI Master Revan. Their was also quite an armory in there. A whole half of the cargo hold was turned into an armory with over a dozen suits of armor and over a hundred blades, blasters and even several lightsabers that seem to have belonged to quite a few famous and powerful JedI masters. I'll have to show you sometime when this is over. I'll meet you at the Imperial station with the others. Apparently there is going to be a cruiser meeting us there as well."

Each of the heroes went to their ships. Tarson and his companions piloted their sleek Defender-Class Freighter from the hanger. From the three hangers next to them came a B-7 Thunderclap-Class Heavy Fighter, a XS Stock Freighter and an old Dynamic-Class freighter emerged from their hangers and the four ships entered hyperspace together. Some standard hours later they all came out to see a massive space station before them. It looked on the outside to be a standard Imperial Space Station though quite a bit larger. No Imperial starships were anywhere to be seen but a Republic Cruiser was attached to the docking shaft. The four freighters went in and landed in a large hander where they found a large number of people setting up a base of operations. A tall female Cerean seemed to be in charge. He issued orders and a pair of Rodians stood behind him taking notes and rattling off information which were, in turn, turned into further orders. A Bith was on a comlink speaking to someone, arguing about requisitions of supplies and equipment. The heroes strode up with their crews behind them. Colonel Antilles cleared his throat in an attempt to get the Cerean's attention. She glanced at them quickly with a polite smile and said, "One moment please."

After issuing a half dozen more orders, she turned back to them and proffered her hand. "It is an honor to see you here. When I heard that I would be under the protection of the heroes who were crucial in the saving of the Republic during the Second Great War, I felt like a teenaged fan of a inter-galactic actor who was going to meet her celebrity crush. My name is Sar-Duris-Vennar and I'm the captain in charge of this section of the science division. It's a real pleasure to meet you all. So… how are you setting up security here?"

The Colonel smiled at the captain's excitement and replied as he shook her hand, "We haven't worked out the details yet but I did notice to seem to have hired additional security." and he motion over to a group of Mandalorians in red and blue armor cleaning the weapons and glowering at everyone around them. One of them, a human in silver and black armor, strode up to them and looked the Colonel up and down wordlessly. Sar-Duris nodded and replied, "Yes this is Tersius Ordo, leader of Clan Ordo. He is the only clan that refused to fight for the Empire. We hired him because no decent Republic Army unit was available. If it's ok with Tersius, he and his boys are at your command."

She turned to him expectantly and he smiled, "It would be an honor work with so many war heroes. My men and I are at you disposal, Colonel." Colonel Antilles personally liked most Mandalorians he had met. Well those he hadn't had to kill. He had heard of Ordo, that they had covertly worked with the Republic in the memory of Canderous Ordo who was made Mandalore the Preserver and fought with the Republic during the Dark Wars. Suddenly Captain Sworrez pushed her way forward and scowled at the Mandalorians. "Why didn't the generals mention that they were hiring Mandalorians?"

Sar-Duris smile became disarming and said, "They didn't hire anyone. I took it from the budget of the science division as well as the contingency fund we are allowed. It covered the price well and left some to spare too. Now if the generals were telling the truth you didn't all approve of this mission so I thought that giving you each some extra help wouldn't be a bad idea. No disrespect intended to you but you are only twenty-two and the Mandalorians would more than triple your numbers."

The two JedI nodded their heads as did Colonel Antilles. Finally, the Colonel said, "Well then here is my plan if the none of you mind…" he said to the others, "…I was thinking of leaving at least twenty around here so that we can be sure to have a secure get away if the need arose. Original I was going to leave that wholly in the hands of Havoc squad but since we have help I won't need to. Master JedI, Captain Sworrez, what do you say to this…"

And the Colonel outlined a plan for the security for the research operation. Twenty of Ordo's Mandalorians would stand guard in the base camp so that the shuttles and ships would be secured. Thirty were set to clearing chambers and corridors as the SIS scientists needed to access them. Havoc Squad and Captain Sworrez's crew were setting up security cameras, auto turrets and other such defenses equipment after which they patrolled in groups of four the areas that were secured. The droids, HK-47, HK-51, M1-4X and T7-O1 were hooked up to different systems. The HK units were in control of a droid control station and coordinated all the defense battle droids. T7 was attached to all security cameras and sensors and monitored all of them while M1 was stationed with an open field of fire towards every entrance to the control camp in case anything tried to get in, hooked up to an energy source and a munitions dump. The crews of the Ebon Hawk and the Defender were set to guard the docking tube and the cruiser itself with Kira Carson being placed in charge of security.

After all security assignments were attended and carried out, the four heroes of the Republic began to explore beyond the explored areas of the space station accompanied by Tersius and the remaining dozen of his Mandalorians. They moved with absolute silence through the darkness of the station. No lights shined and nothing moved. The air was utterly still and neither of the JedI could sense anything living nearby and an eerie silence permeated the air. After an hour of silent wandering, marking with luminous spray paint to mark in the gloom where they had been, Colonel Antilles spoke, breaking the silence with a low murmur. "This place looks like it's been abandoned for years. No people, no bodies, no droids, not even a sound of the energy generators or turbines of the air scrubbers. What in the galaxy could have done this to a station this size? Where did the fleet go, too? Stations like this always have a fleet to defend them. I have a really bad feeling about this."

Tarson called to T7 and asked what the scanners picked up. After a long stream of binary, the JedI Weapons Master thanked him and shook his head in puzzlement. "T7 said that none of the scans picked up anything in the way of living life forms nor in the way of droids. There are also no signs of airborne pathogens or viruses in the air. However there is a massive amount of organic material deep in the depths of the station, down where the power core and turbines are."

The others looked at him quizzically and Tersius Ordo said, "We're game if you are, Masters. My Mandalorians and I are eager to prove ourselves to you - and to the good captain who seems to still not trust us."

Captain Sworrez frowned and crossed her arms over her chest but did not retort or make any reply. She did, however, un-holster one of her heavy blaster pistols, a Iridonian made piece with a stun setting. The others followed her example in their own ways. The JedI took their lightsabers from their belts but left them unlit for the moment and Colonel Antilles checked the energy sells of the Rotating Assault cannon before re-slinging it in favor of a smaller blaster rifle. Several of the Mandalorians already had their weapons ready as always and a few of them went on ahead in a stacked formation while the others brought up the rear. It was less than a half hour before they found a turbo lift which was, of course in operable. One of the Mandalorians, a woman in red armor, trotted up and saluted before reporting, "We are trying to pry open the doors but it may take a few minutes. They seemed to be jammed shut pretty tightly."

With a small smile, Tarson ignited his lightsaber, its bronze blade casting light on all of them. Without a word he respectfully ushered the two large Mandalorians aside before thrusting the blade into the turbo lift door and cutting a hole wide enough for them to pass through one at a time. He looked down into the shaft and dropped a glow rod. It fell for many seconds and when it finally stopped it was only a tiny green dot. He turned from the turbo lift and was about to comment on it when his comlink chimed. Switching it on and saying, "Yeah?"

The voice on the other end belonged to Captain Sar-Duris. "I have news, Master JedI. We found a massive laboratory. Part of it is studying computers and equipment of a wholly unfamiliar nature - nothing in any of the Republic or even Imperial records even mentions this kind of technology in any way, shape or form. After taking the information the Imperials had on the hardware we have a head start. It's so fascinating but it's not even the most interesting part. In another section of the lab we found stasis chambers of differing sizes with several different creatures in them. I'll send you holo-images of the creatures now. How goes the exploration of the facility?"

Tarson looked at the images before replying to the SIS Captain. One was smaller than a Tatooine Wamp Rat and had eight limbs and a very long prehensile tail. It's underside seemed to have another appendage though he couldn't determine the purpose just by looking at it. According to the statistics that showed up next to the image, the creature's flesh was silicone based and the blood was highly acidic. A second creature replaced the first. It was wholly different than the other, being long and serpentine, much like a snake of some nature but it had not eyes and the only way that its head was identified was by a round crescent-like form without eyes but with a mouth full of sharp teeth and what appeared to be a secondary mouth inside of it on the end of a extendable and retractable tongue like part. It also had acidic blood and its skin was also silicone based. The third appeared to be an extremely evolved version of the second, with powerful legs, longish forelimbs that could either be used to grab or carry or to propel them along on all fours. Also like the second, this creature had silicone based flesh, acid blood, an interior mouth and the strange oblong head. Unlike the second however, it was much larger, larger than a full groan male human. It's long tail had a bladed spike at the end of it as well but most noticeable of all it had a beetle-black exoskeleton that was comprised of a hard and unfamiliar substance. Upon observing these three images closely Tarson replied to the eager captain, "They are a strange trio of creatures to say the least. What do the Imperial research archives have to say about them?"

Captain Sar-Duris smiled ruefully and said, "It would appear that the files were corrupted sometime during their evacuation. As far as that goes we will have to start completely from scratch, I'm afraid. I can say this though: it seems that the creatures are all the same creature but in a different stage of life."

Tarson and the others looked at each other with furrowed and cocked brows as Tarson spoke allowed their silent enquiries. "How can that be? They are all very different from each other. Are you saying that the little spider looking thing turns into the other two? Sounds to me like reverse evolution."

This brought a good natured laugh from the captain who replied as if she was addressing curious university students, "Of course not. I thing that the first creatures delivers the embryo to second party who then gives birth to the second. The second, like some species of insects, then cocoons and metamorphosis's into the third. It's all quite fascinating."

Tarson chuckled himself and said, "Yes, you have said that several times now, but if the files were corrupted and lost, how did you learn about this interesting life cycle? It sounds unique in comparison to any life cycle of creatures in the known galaxy."

The Captain scratched her elongated cranium and replied, "One of the scarce few things we could recover was a recording of the creatures life cycle. There are six of the little creatures in some sort of containers filled with a strange fluid that looks to be keeping them calm. Six small cryo-chambers have the second stage life forms in them completely sedated. In fact there life signs are dangerously low but stable so I think I'll leave them there. In another four large cryo-chambers are the third stage life-forms, also completely sedated. They are marvelous creatures to look upon."

A grunt from Sworrez followed by, "They sure look ugly to me."

She said allowed after that. "Tell me captain - what do you plan to do with these strange creatures? Are they dangerous? Can you salvage any indication of what they are, where their from and how they got here to this station and what the Empire was planning on doing with them? It seems to me that those are the real questions we need answered before we do anything else as far as research and study goes, wouldn't you say, Captain?"

The Cerean smiled disarmingly and replied in the affirmative. "Unfortunately we cannot pull enough information to answer all the questions that we have. We will need to do our own research. Wait a second…"

And she put a finger to her earpiece and listened for several seconds before saying, "Excellent. It seems that we have found some containment chambers for the third stage life forms. Some of my top technicians and droids are looking each of them over to see how they work. They seem to have been based off information gleaned from the alien hardware in the other part of the lab. I'll keep you updated but now I must get back to work."

After the image of Sar-Duris winked out of sight, the explorers looked at one another, saying nothing at first. Finally, Sworrez blurted out, "Ok is anyone getting one of those 'those things are most definitely dangerous and we should destroy them along with this entire station' feelings? I have never seen anything in the galaxy that looks like that but those teeth are not made to eat fruits and vegetables and that secondary mouth…"

And she shuttered silently at the thought. The two JedI masters looked at each other before turning to Tersius. Master Doneeta said, "Send two of your soldiers back and have them keep an eye on things back in the labs and research facility. Have them report to you every ten minutes."

Tarson looked back down the turbo lift shaft at the fading green dot where the glow stick fell. After contemplating for several moments, he pulled a line and collapsible hook from his utility belt and secured them to a nearby railing after giving it a good shape to ensure its stability. With that he looked at his friends and said, "I'll tell you what's down there and when its safe to follow."

With that, he took one of his two lightsabers in his right hand and dropped down the shaft. Closing his eyes, Tarson reached out with the force and sensed everything. When he felt that he was near the bottom of the shaft, he used the force to cushion his fall. The line of his utility belt reached the bottom and he detached it from his belt. Igniting his light saber, Tarson observed all that was around him. He had bypassed the bottom-most floor of the station and was looking into a maintenance duct. Crouching down so as to not smack his head on the moderately low ceiling of the duct. The light of his lightsaber revealed nothing out of the ordinary. After about thirty meters the duct opened into a central maintenance chamber with consoles and monitors. Activating his comlink, Tarson contacted the other explorers. "It seems safe enough. Go straight to the bottom of the shaft and take the maintenance duct until you get to a central chamber. I'll be waiting there."

After receiving an affirmative from those above, Tarson clipped his lightsaber to his belt and began to examine the inactive monitors and consoles. Suddenly, he felt a ripple in the force and heard several _snap-hissing _noises that only lightsabers made, seeing a scarlet light around him. Moving instinctively, Tarson leapt straight up and over the monitor he was studying and ignited both of his lightsaber blades - bronze and a shining royal blue. Turning around, he deflected a blow from one of his three opponents. Facing him were two young male pure-blood Sith warriors, one wielding a single lightsaber and another wielding a pair of them. The third individual, the one assailing him at the moment was a female chiss wielding a double bladed lightsaber. Calling on the force, Tarson used the force to blast all three of them to the middle of the chamber before saying. "Don't be hasty, Sith. It's obvious something terrible struck this station. Before you kill me, tell me this: Are you the only survivors? What happened to this place? How was it that you were left behind and survived?"

The two warriors said nothing but glared with beady yellow eyes. The Chiss said, "We will tell you nothing, JedI. You face three Sith trained on the homeworld of Korriban and christened on Dromund Kaas by Darth Nox and Darth Purge as their apprentices - the Emperor's Wrath and the Lord of First Knowledge. You will not defeat us alone even if you are a JedI Master."

She leapt high, force lightning rippling from blade to blade of her light saber, preparing to strike with the full measure of her physical and forceful ability when she was suddenly stopped in mid air and thrown with mighty force against the wall of the chamber. Suddenly she felt herself slammed back to the wall - her two companions on either side of her. Looking towards the entrance of the chamber, she saw another JedI - a twi'lek with her hands upraised. Beside here was another short, lean zabrak woman with a pair of heavy blaster pistols and a large man with an assault cannon. Behind them were eleven Mandalorian warriors with different weapons. "Yield. Drop you weapons and do not attack us. We do not wish to do battle right now, only to talk. We have food, water and medical equipment and a long list of questions. If you surrender now and allow us to place you in our custody then we will take care of you."

The Chiss Sith clamped her jaw shut. Suddenly the lightsabers flew from her hands and the hands of her companions and they landed in the hands of the JedI Master they encountered first. They then fell to the floor but leapt up as if ready to fight again. Before they moved a muscle, they were hit by volleys of stun bolts, knocking them unconscious. The Mandalorians put restraints on them made especially to hold JedI and Sith. They were made with crystals that were found on a planet in Wild Space that seemed to make a buddle in which the force was powerless. When the Sith came to, Master Doneeta began to look over them with the help of Captain Sworrez to check for injuries. None of them had any serious injuries but one of the pure blooded Sith had a nasty looking burn across his ribcage which they treated. The Chiss Sith did not bother to speak or resist. Master Doneeta smiled and said, "When we are done here, we can give you some of our rations we have and some water. We mean you no harm and we won't torture you but we need to learn about what happened here."

Suddenly one of the other Sith, a massive fellow with the nasty burn on his ribcage said, "You won't get anything out of her, Master JedI. She is so loyal to the Sith Council that she still raves about how the death of the Emperor and Darth Malgus is the best thing that has ever happened to the Empire."

Tarson strode over to the young Sith and said, "My name is Tarson Draay. Since your friend here is unwilling to help, will you explain what happened here?" the young Sith hesitated for and Tarson chuckled and said, "Look kid, if you're worried about betraying the Empire, don't worry about it. If these creatures are that dangerous, we will destroy this station and everything on it."

After another small hesitation the Sith said, "I was just in charge of one of the security teams here, sent by the command of the Emperor's Wrath. With my limited clearance I was able to see a good amount of what the station was doing here and I was able to learn a large amount more by getting close to Darth Marabous. The man was brilliant. He knew more about the species in the known galaxy than any other man, having studied them over three centuries. I have his holocron. It's in that storage container there."

He pointed to a plasteel cylinder beneath one of the consoles. Colonel Antilles went and opened the cylinder and pulled out a coal-black cube. The female Chiss began to splutter and shouted, "Almec you traitor, when I get free I'll tare the flesh from your bones and make you eat every last bit of it before you die!"

The smaller Sith looked coolly at her and said, "A great assassin you may be but you know you can't hand both of us in a straight up fight so keep a civil tongue in your head, Tanis." he then turned to the JedI Masters and said, "Activate the holocron and ask about the most recent xenomorphic species that he ran into. Believe me that will answer all of your questions. Make it quick though. Those things wake up and become really active when anything else moves around too much. I'd contact your friends and tell them to be on the lookout."

Tarson and Jaina sat down on the floor and the Colonel placed the holocron between them. Jaina, who had had a lot of experience probing holocrons of all kinds, reached out with the force and activated it. A life sized apparition of a tall Kel Dor Sith Lord appeared. "I am Darth Marabous, Dark Lord of the Sith. Of the species and creatures of the galaxy, forceful, sentient or otherwise, you can learn it from me. Knowledge is power, even if it something as seemingly trivial as this. Of what creature would you learn?"

The two master looked at one another and then Jaina said, "Tell us of the xenomorphs you recently encountered. Tell us everything you learned about them, Sith Lord."

The flesh attached to the creatures mask raised a little, an indication the the Kel Dor was smiling. "I'll tell you everything you need to know - before they destroy you."


	2. Chapter 2

It had taken less than eight hours for things to go as wrong as they possibly could in the Imperial Station. The SIS Captain Sar-Duris-Vennar had absolutely no reckoning of the creatures she and her command were dealing with. Even after all the information they had taken from the Imperial scientists, quite a bit for all of it had survived whatever catastrophe had taken the station. None of the information explained the extent of the creatures natural cunning and insentient intelligence. In order to study the creatures more easily, Sar-Duris ordered that the six many-legged creatures be taken from there cryo-chambers and allowed to move around a bit. Immediately upon becoming active, four of the creatures leaped upon their handlers and wrapped their legs and tail around them. The other two began running around the room they were in, seeking a seem or hole to escape into. The room was sealed off however and soon found they were trapped. The four scientist who were stricken by the creatures lay thrashing and twitching on the ground. Sar-Duris was summoned and she watched carefully, taking note on a datapad. Suddenly one of the creatures not attached leapt to the blast doors control and secreted a substance that burned through it quickly. "Stop that creature. It's burning through the controls. If that door opens…"

Suddenly the blast door hissed open and both creatures fixated on the two nearest Republic soldiers, a Zabrak and a Rattataki. Suddenly, two of Ordo's Mandalorains ran up and pointed their blaster rifles. Sar-Duris yelled, "Don't shoot. If we get them to a medical station we can save all of them."

The Mandalorians and several other soldiers grabbed the six victims and dragged or carried them as fast as they could to the nearest medical station where surgical droids and a Selkath doctor were waiting. Captain Sar-Duris watched them go before activating her comlink. "Get me two dozen soldiers and make sure four at least of them has a cryogen projector. We are going to wake the four adults inside four fully sealed off chambers with controls only on the outside. I also want the walls to be shielded so that their acid won't be able to burn through it."

The Lieutenant on the other end replied hesitantly, "Ma'am, that's going to take us several hours to set up. Isn't there something easier we can do to contain these creatures. We have four deployable particle shields that will contain them and we can place them on a surface that is acid resistant. That way we can do it now and start studies much more quickly."

Sar-Duris contemplated it quietly for several moments before consenting and ordering the shield generators placed. Four container droids carrying a fast solidifying liquid that was acid and energy resistant laid down a thick base for the shields just as another four labor droids carried up the cryo-stasis chambers with the four xenomorphs inside and placed them in position. They then set the thawing process and stepped away as the shields were activated. Within minutes, four beetle-black creatures sat hissing and shivering in a pool of fluid. They looked about them without eyes at each of the scientists and soldiers that were nearby. One of the younger soldiers shivered and muttered to the older sergeant next to him, "Cryph those things give me the creeps. How can they see us? Hey Don't even have eyes."

The sergeant just slapped the kid on the back and mentioned something about going and getting some grub from the mess droids. Captain Sar-Duris continued making notes and continuous crowed about the magnificence of the creatures while two lieutenants continued to scan them and record or read off vital information. Suddenly the four creatures turned towards each other and, with one voice, gave a loud screech that lasted several minutes. After they finished, Sar-Duris smiled and said, "They're communicating. This is all too fascinating. I wonder why they haven't tried the shields yet."

The two Mandalorains who were standing nearby looked at each other before quietly slipping away to inform their commander Tersius Ordo of the current events. Tersius was down with the four heroes of the Republic - Master Tarsin Draay, Master Jaina Doneeta, Colonel Derek Antilles and the smuggler Captain Deena Sworrez. For the passed several hours the JedI master had been studying a Sith Holocron made by a Kel Dor Sith Lord named Darth Marabous about the strange creatures. Tersius, the Colonel and Captain Deena were watching three Sith Apprentices who had been captured while ten of Ordo's Mandalorians kept an eye on the entrances to the small maintenance center they were in. Tersius strode up and said, "I just received word that the creatures were using a long screech to communicate. My two men think it could be to signal others besides themselves. We should be on our guard."

Tarsin Draay nodded absently as he continued to listen to Darth Marabous. "The creatures are ruled by a queen who is ten times larger than the warriors. I've just returned from a visit to her in the lower containment areas. Imprisoned with her in order to attempt to keep them calm, are four large xenomorphs with similarly crested heads. I think they are her guardians when she is laying her eggs. It seems that as long as we leave her be they will let us be. It also seems that there are five separate types of these xenomorphs aside from the queen and her praetorian guardians. The warrior seems to be the most common and is grown from most bipedal sentient beings though each different bipedal species may lend slightly different attributes to the creatures. For example, a Chiss lent blue to the exoskeletons while a pureblood Sith produced one with fleshly tendrils from their upper and lower jaws. The runner xenomorphs seem to be grown from quadruped species and several times secreted and spat acids from their mouths. Like their hosts they run on four legs even more so than the warriors do. The third is a strange case. They happen randomly and either run on two or four legs and stalk their pray from the shadows and doesn't stand up to fight or try to swarm over large groups as the warriors seem to. The fourth is only ground from large hosts. They must be far larger than any regular sized sentient. They have massive crests that are thick enough to repel blaster bolts and vibroweapons and they seem to ram their opponents and maul them. The last kind we produced by exposing the embryos to radiation. The result was… unstable. When disturbed they charged and exploded in a shower of acid…"

Becoming slightly impatient, Master Doneeta asked, "Sith Lord, how did they over run you? What are their weaknesses? How were even the Sith unable to stop them?"

The Sith Lord clasped his hands behind his back and replied, "By now those xenomorphs who are hiding in the bowls of the station will have been contacted by the specimens if they were set free from cryo-stasis. A long screech is their signal to awaken and kill or impregnate any whom they can. Within a few hours you will be dead as my men were. Even the Sith were unprepared for them for some of them have to skills to hide in the force and move unfelt by those who are even the strongest in it."

Tarson stood quickly and said, "Enough of this. We have learned enough. Back to the base camp. Tersius tell Captain Sar-Duris we will need to speak with her as soon as we get back. We need to contact our friends to be on the look out for them."

Master Doneeta scooped the holocron and Colonel Antilles pointed to the three Sith prisoners and asked, "What are we doing about these three troublesome kids? Should I just put an end to them right here or just leave them to the xenomorphs?"

Tarson used the force to elevate them to their feet and placed them in front of him so they could travel down the passage. Captain Sworrez pulled both blaster pistols from their holsters and the Colonel pulled his rotating assault cannon from his back. Master Doneeta unclipped the double bladed lightsaber from her belt and ignited on of the blades. Ordo's men lead the way and Ordo himself turned back to Tarson, "Captain Sar-Duris is eagerly awaiting your report though she is not too excited about the fact that all of your crews are taking their weapons from their holsters and such."

Tarson chuckled humorlessly and replied, "She'll be even less excited to hear that we have to blow this station. Hey you Sith, what's the easiest way to blow this place to chaos?"

The largest of the two purebloods said, "The main reactor is unreachable by starfighters from the outside. It was designed to repel assaults from anything from a squadron of JedI pilots to a massive battle fleet though it usually has the support of a fleet itself. The only way to destroy this place is to send a constant stream of lasers and missiles from outside. That however would take dozens of ships and quite some time. From the inside the best way to do so is to blow the power core and all of the back-up cores simultaneously. There are a dozen total."

Tarson scoffed, "You have got to be kidding - a main power core and a dozen secondary cores? How are we supposed to do that? I need to see a schematic of this space station."

It only took them two standard hours to reach the base camp where Sar-Duris was standing, issuing orders to those around. The explorers scowled at the shields containing the four creatures as they quickly strode up to the captain. Tarson stepped right passed her and accessed a console, bringing up a detailed schematic of the station. To his relief the secondary power cores were in clusters of three in the north, south east and west of the station, all buried deep in the station under dozens of corridors, batteries and plates of armor where it would require a power fleet to blast through and reach even with the most accurate and powerful weapons. "Master JedI what seems to be the problem. First Ordo calls up that you urgently need to speak with me and then all your crews begin to check their weapons as do the Mandalorians. Is there a problem?"

Tarsin turned away from the console and said, "We are all in grave danger here. That screech wasn't to talk to each other. It was to call the others deep in the depths of the station. This place is going to be crawling with those things any minute now. We must destroy this station. I recommend we call in the entire Republic fleet to shell this station to oblivion."

Captain Sar-Duris held her hands up and said, "Wait a minute, Master JedI. Slow down and explain this to me. No need to be hasty about destroying this place. Let's discuss this thoroughly before we make a drastic decision. Start from the beginning."

Rather quickly, Jaina explained the finding of the holocron and summarized the information and finished all of it by saying, "That scream was a call to those who are hiding in the interior of the station. They will be heading this way soon if they are not on the way already."

A skeptical smile crossed the Cereans face but before she could make any form of objection or argument, Colonel Antilles crossed his great arms over the chest plate and asked, "Have any patrols of soldiers or droids failed to report in? Especially any that are in the furthest distance in the more unexplored areas of the station?"

Sar-Duris hesitated before saying, "Yes a few have but some of our equipment has been working a little spottily thus far so that is all I chalked it up to. Are you suggesting that the cause is a host of these strange creatures awakening and coming to kill us or drive us off? Because I think that highly unlikely. No insentient creature can work with that kind of coordination. In fact…"

Suddenly cries came from a nearby room and several guards stumbled out pursuing a couple of small serpentine creatures that were hissing and screeching as they tried to find a place of escape. The four adult creatures attempted to escape but were repelled by the shields they were imprisoned in. One of the soldiers dropped to a knee and took aim at one of them. Before anyone could say otherwise, he fired and missed several blaster bolts. Most of them struck the floor but one struck one of the generators and one of the black creatures leapt upon the nearest scientists and tore at him with its claws. Tarson unclipped his lightsaber and ignited it as he dashed forward. The creature screeched and leapt off its victim and slammed its body against another of the generators before using its powerful tail to smashed it. With a snap and a small explosion another shield dropped. Igniting his second blade, Tarson threw his weapons at both the creatures. They tried to evade but neither was fast enough and the two weapons cleanly decapitated them. Sar-Duris looked slightly scared as she said, "Well done Master JedI. Those things are even more vicious than the Imperial records had indicated."

Captain Sworrez scowled and stepped forward, growling "I thought the records were destroyed during the incident that caused this place to be abandoned you lying shutta. What else do the Imperial records indicate?"

Sar-Duris looked sidelong at her and said rather briskly, "We don't have time for this. Recall all personnel to the airlocks and load them into the ships. Don't worry about the equipment just grab a few of the still imprisoned specimens and all the data we can save. Master JedI, Captain and Colonel get to your ships and we will meet you in orbit."

The four heroes scowled but they did recall their crews and sent them to prep the ships. Tarsin looked at Ordo and said, "Sent your Mandalorians to my ship and wait there. We may need your help. Hey you…" he yelled at the scientists directing the labor droids that held the six stasis chambers containing the small serpentine creatures… "tell that droid to drop those. They are too dangerous. I don't care what orders Captain Sar-Duris gave you, put them down. Better yet destroy them. Have the droids put them down and then have the soldiers blast it to slag."

The scientist hesitated before relaying the orders. Suddenly Sar-Duris walked through the door and yelled, "Wait! Don't destroy those! We still need to study them. Master JedI our orders are to find why the Imperials abandoned this station and to turn whatever the cause was into a weapon. Am I wrong, Masters?"

Tarsin Draay, Jaina Doneeta, Kira Carson and Jaina's former Padawan Nadia Grell all stepped forward and Master Doneeta replied levelly to the captain, "Our orders were to see what happened and see if whatever it was COULD be turned into a weapon. These things are far to volatile to be studied and cannot be controlled. Why can't you recognize this captain? What is so important about this mission?"

Sar-Duris spread her hands disarmingly and said, "It's about loyalty to the Galactic Republic and ending this war for good or at very least indefinitely. As far as controlling these things, we have hardly had the chance to try. What are you suggesting Master JedI, that I have other motives?"

Nadia crossed her arms over her dark robed chest and replied, "If the Dark Lords of the Sith, the masters of subjugating and oppressing any creature in the galaxy yet even they could not control these monsters."

Tarsin shook his head and said, "I don't think any of us fully understand. These creatures can communicate, not only with their shrieks but also with a strange form of hive mind. According to the Darth Marabous holocron these creatures tried to escape seven times and did not succeed until the last. They tried everything from not hatching their eggs so as to make the Imperials think them defective or by not emerging from their host to make them think that they died inside. They tried spitting and secreting acid until the Imperial scientists built acid resistant holding cells. You have the records. You know how adaptive they are."

Raising a hand as if to indicate the JedI Weapons Master's point and said, "We have record of all save the final attempt and will find a way to contain them with those records. Where did you find this holocron, anyway? Who is this Darth Marabous that you speak of?"

Tarson motioned the two pureblooded Sith warriors forward. As they were tied together with their Chiss companion, they dragged her forward and she glared blades at them in silence. The massive Sith wearing a suite of heavy suit of Sith battle armor said, "My name is Almec. I was a security commander here. As things began to get worse, just before a mass evacuation that was only slightly successful, I stole this holocron while Darth Marabous was studying our few remaining specimens. I've studied almost all of it but there seems to be a section that the holocron won't tell me. It keeps saying that I am not powerful nor passionate enough to learn the deepest secrets of this holocron."

Sar-Duris walked up to them and spoke them almost casually. "Tell me, young Sith, what happened in the final hours of this station? How did these creatures completely overrun this station and where did they go when everyone else was gone?"

Almec gave a ghost of an ironic smile as he replied as if they were simply talking on the times within the Republic or Empire, "You will find out soon. They will come in like a flood. Before we could evacuate the first stage life forms had attached themselves to hundreds of the staff and the third stage life forms had gotten into the droid repair shops and destroyed all shut down and recharging combat droids. The JedI Master is right. We need to destroy those things and leave this station. Contact your fleet and blow it to chaos."

The other JedI nodded and Tarsin pointed to his ship and told Kira to escort them to holding cells. His comlink chimed. It was Doctor Archiban Kimble, or just Doc, reporting the ships ready for launch. Tarsin ordered him to stand by and was about to reassert the need to destroy the creatures when an alarm began to sound and an automated voice screamed out. "Warning! Warning! Multiple Xenomorph bio-signatures detected in mess halls four, nine and twelve and corridors Alpha through Epsilon. Evacuation is advised."

It repeated continuously and they bolted to their ships. Captain Sar-Duris ran and hopped into a nearby shuttle with her scientists and took off. Just as the ships took off a mass of the vicious xenomorphs pored into the hanger, attacking the people and droids that were still their. The droids were smashed while the people were either killed or dragged away to be hosted.

Colonel Antilles sent some of his squad to the laser cannons and opened fire on the swarms of creatures but only in those areas where there were no civilians being dragged away. Captain Sworrez's XS Stock Freighter opened fire as well while the two JedI ship took off and went straight to the cruiser which had just detached from the station. The Ebon Hawk used a dorsal access hatch while the Defender landed in one of the largest hangers. Both JedI Masters sprinted to the command bridge where Captain Sar-Duris was issuing orders and multitasking with the coolness and effectiveness of a natural born leader. As they stopped before her chair, the captain said, "Master JedI, I'm glad you made it. It seems these things are more volatile than we first thought. I realize now that you were right about these creatures. They are far too volatile and uncontrollable."

Tarson looked sidelong at her and said, "Great. Glad you came to your senses. Have you contacted the Republic Fleet to destroy this station? That is the next logical step unless you think you that this one cruiser can destroy this station."

A very serious look crossed the Cerean captain's face, more grim than any she had given thus far as she replied, "Unfortunately it seems that the station is jamming our transmissions. We have been trying to hale the Republic and even the JedI Council but nothing ever went through."

The two JedI looked at one another. They hadn't had any troubles with the comms inside the space station. As Sar-Duris continued to issue orders, Tarson told T7 to check the comms and they were jammed from inside the station but this wasn't the case a half hour earlier and it was activated quite literally just before the swarm of Xenomorphs took the command center. It was only a short time before Captain Sworrez and Colonel Antilles joined them. The four heroes and the captain soon had everything they knew worked out. They came to the conclusion that someone had to have activated a jamming device upon realizing that the swarm was approaching but the reason why and who had done it was still a mystery. The four heroes first turned towards the three Sith prisoners. Tarson shook his head and said, "They are still wearing their restraints that we put on them when we captured them and have been under Ordo's Mandalorians' guards the whole time. It could not have been them."

Captain Sworrez made it plain that she didn't find the Mandalorians themselves above suspicion but did not press the issue. Colonel Antilles scratched the black stubble on his chin and jawbone and said, "Perhaps our esteemed Captain of the SIS may have something to do with it. She was still fairly keen to continue studying the creatures up until several minutes ago when she tried to hale the Republic. Do you think T7 could pinpoint where the jamming device is in the station, Tarson?"

The Weapons Master turned to T7 who gave out a long stream of blurbs and whistles as he used one of his extensions to access a console. After several moments and a long stream of binary, Tarson turned to the others and said, "It would seem that the jamming device is in the command center that Sar-Durris had set up in the labs. Perhaps it was activated by mistake."

But all four of them thought this highly unlikely since their were several processes to activate the device. They decided to pursue the matter with the Cerean captain but she had suddenly vanished. Tarson turned to a Twi'lek Ensign and asked, "Do you know where the captain has gone?"

In surprise the young soldier looked around and replied in the negative but that the Captain had been their issuing orders not a minute before. Tarson was about to look around the whole bridge when T7 began to whistle and beep frantically and Master Doneeta called, "Tarson, get over here! The ships internal systems are tracking over a dozen unknown creatures moving through the vents and maintenance shafts. I think some of the Xenomorphs managed to get aboard before the ship disconnected from the station!"

Tarson rushed over and saw that nearly twenty creatures were spreading throughout the ship. One of the techs that were manning the ship's terminals called out, "An escape pod has just been jettisoned from the port side of the ship!"

The four heroes looked at one another as the same thought came to them. Finally Captain Sworrez asked, "What was Sar-Duris thinking, launching an escape pod right back towards the station? She'll simply smash into it and die, not that that would be an unfitting fate for her, the slimy shutta."

Tarson ignored the comments and yelled to the soldier manning the intercom systems, "Tell all personnel to either the hanger or the starboard escape pods. Make sure they do not use the port pods. And activate the self-destruct sequence."

A human female sitting at one of the consoles said, "Sir this ship's self destruct devices were removed before this mission at the order of Captain Sar-Duris. There is no way to destroy this ship remotely."

Tarson yelled for her to get to the nearest way of escape. She only made it a few steps before a beetle black xenomorph dropped on her and speared her with its tail. Captain Sworrez blasted it several times until it lay their in a smoking mass. The heroes drew their weapons and began to run to their ships. Colonel Antilles, being the only ranked individual in the Republic Military, took command of the task force, issuing orders to all he came across and cutting down any Xenomorphs they saw. It was less than a half hour before a cluster of fighters, shuttles, gunships and transports were gathered two clicks from the cruiser and the nearby station, just far enough that their comms were working again. Soon the evacuees began to report in, revealing that less than one tenth of the task force had escaped. The ships of the four heroes attached to one another and all of them met on the Ebon Hawk. Master Doneeta sighed and rubbed her temples and said, "This mission has been a disaster. What are we going to do now?"


End file.
